Gay Nigerian seeks Asylum in America
"Every day people come to the United States seeking asylum from countries that refuse to protect them.
They come from China, from Iraq, from Mexico and Venezuela. More than 100,000 were filed in the United States in 2017 alone.
Babatunde Scott-Ashley fled his home country of Nigeria when he was 27. He arrived in March 2017 seeking asylum after facing violence and persecution for being gay.
The African nation is notorious for its treatment of homosexuals. Police and gangs harass, beat and persecute people who are believed to be gay. After facing unimaginable hate and abuse, Babatunde believed he had no choice but to escape a country that refused to protect him.
"NY Daily News, November 21, 2018

Campaigners celebrate as India decriminalises homosexuality
"Celebrations have erupted in India after the supreme court unanimously ruled to decriminalise homosexual sex in a landmark judgment for gay rights.
A five-judge bench at the country's highest court ruled that a 160-year-old law banning sex "against the order of nature" amounted to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and was unconstitutional.
The judgment, after 24 years of legal challenges, triggered elation among LBGT Indians and their allies across the country and plans for all-night parties in nightclubs in major cities."The Guardian (India), September 6, 2018

'Alone and in fear': ordeal of married gay couple forced to flee Russia
"On a cold January evening, as plainclothes police officers hammered relentlessly on the door of their flat near Moscow, newlywed gay couple Pavel Stotsko and Yevgeny Voitsekhovsky began to consider fleeing Russia.
"It was a siege situation. The police were in the entrance to the building, and all around it," Stotsko said this week from the Netherlands, where the couple, who are both 28, were recently granted asylum. "We sat in the flat like in a prison cell, totally alone and in fear," said Voitsekhovsky.
The two men's problems with the Russian authorities began at the start of the year after they wed in Denmark, where same-sex marriages have been legal since 2012.
Although homosexuality is not against the law in Russia, same-sex marriage is. But after studying Russian civil law, Stotsko and Voitsekhovsky realised that the authorities are obliged to recognise marriages that have been registered abroad, even those between same-sex couples. Russian officials, it appears, were unaware of the legal loophole."The Guardian (UK), September 5, 2018

Women caned in Malaysia for attempting to have lesbian sex
"Two women found guilty of attempting to have sex have been caned in Malaysia's conservative north-eastern state of Terengganu, in the first punishment of its kind.
The two women, aged 22 and 32, were caned six times each in the Terengganu sharia high court just after 10am, after the sentence was read out.
The caning was carried out in the courtroom and was witnessed by up to 100 people, including the public."The Guardian, September 3, 2018

Transgender woman serving 10 years seeks transfer to female prison after being beaten, taunted at male facility
"CHICAGO - A 26-year-old transgender woman serving a 10-year sentence in Illinois for burglary is seeking a rarely granted transfer to a female prison where she says she'll be less vulnerable to the kinds of sexual assault, taunting and beatings she's been subjected to in male prisons.
Deon "Strawberry" Hampton describes in a lawsuit filed last year asking for the transfer how guards and fellow inmates would regularly single her out for brutal treatment at the high-security prison in southern Illinois, Menard Correctional Center, and earlier at Pinckneyville Correctional Center.
A U.S. magistrate judge began a first-of-its-kind evidentiary hearing in Hampton's case Friday in Benton, southeast of St. Louis, to help the court decide whether to order the transfer. The hearing, which will last several days, is focused on Hampton's gender identity and on whether she could pose a risk to female inmates if moved."NY Daily News, January 6, 2018

New Jersey school board agrees to pay $110G settlement to gay teacher allegedly harassed by students
"A former Spanish teacher at a New Jersey high school will get $110,000 to settle a lawsuit in which he claimed he was harassed by students because he's gay.
Kevin McManus — who began working at Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School in 2008 — in a lawsuit claimed he "was the subject of a hostile work environment" after a student revealed he was gay during a class in 2011, NJ.com reported.
The students would allegedly mock him with statements like "don't drop the soap" and "do you like nuts?" according to the suit, originally filed in 2015.
The former teacher also alleged that the school in Bridgewater not only failed to take action on the matter, but also retaliated against him after he filed a civil rights complaint."NY Daily News, January 6, 2018

South Dakota law allows child service agencies to reject LGBT clients
" Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed SB 149 on Friday, making South Dakota the first state to pass a so-called "religious freedom" law since the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2015.
The law says no child placement agency in the state can be required to provide services that conflict with any "sincerely-held religious belief or moral conviction.""NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, March 12, 2017

Evangelical council's manifesto about 'biblical sexuality' and same-sex sin is straight out of the 1980s
" A religious coalition doubled down on their beliefs that "homosexual immorality" is sinful and that marriage should be between a man and a woman in a new statement signed by more than 100 Evangelical leaders.
The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood on Tuesday released a statement on "biblical sexuality" that they've christened the Nashville Statement. It outlines 14 affirmations and denials pertaining to religion and human sexuality "in the hope of serving Christ's church," the statement's preamble reads."NY Daily News, August 30, 2017

Trump's Department of Justice backs Colorado baker who refused to make cake for same-sex wedding
"The Department of Justice on Thursday filed documents with the Supreme Court in support of a Colorado baker who is religiously opposed to making wedding cakes for same-sex couples.
The state's public accommodation law forbids discrimination based on race, religion and sexual orientation, but the DOJ agreed that requiring Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple would violate his constitutional rights."NY Daily News, September 8, 2017

Parents remove son from school in pupil gender row
"The parents of a six-year-old boy have removed him from his primary school in a row over whether another pupil should be allowed to wear a dress.
Nigel and Sally Rowe said their son was confused as to why the child at the Church of England School on the Isle of Wight dressed as both a boy and a girl.
The Diocese of Portsmouth, under which the school falls, said it was required to "respect diversity of all kinds".
The couple believe the school should have consulted all parents."BBC News, September 11, 2017

Jeff Sessions to reverse Obama-era civil rights protections for transgender workers
"U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is ending an Obama-era policy protecting transgender employees from discrimination, showing yet another strike from the Trump administration on LGBT rights.
Sessions wrote in a memo that a landmark 1964 civil rights law does not apply to gender identity, despite the Justice Department expanding that definition when former President Barack Obama was in office."NY Daily News, October 5, 2017

Death Penalty For Same-Sex Relations Denounced By United Nations
""Horrific laws" condemning people to death because of whom they love are the focus of a new international proposal. "The question of the death penalty" resolution to denounce the most severe punishment for consensual same-sex relations was passed on Friday by the 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Twenty-seven nations voted in favor of the resolution; 13 voted against it; and 7 abstained."Forbes, October 2, 2017

Nigerian woman fleeing to the U.S. to avoid anti-LGBT bias avoids jail sentence over visa fraud
" A Nigerian woman who pleaded guilty to entering the U.S. illegally to escape persecution in her homeland because she is lesbian was sentenced to time served — the eight days she spent behind bars after her arrest in February.
Yewande Beatrice Okubanjo knelt down on the floor in front of the judge's bench in Brooklyn Federal Court and bowed her head repeatedly to show how grateful she was for being spared a jail sentence."NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, September 12, 2016.

SEE IT: Kentucky clerk again refuses to issue same-sex marriage licenses, federal judge orders her to appear
" A rebellious Kentucky clerk chose "God's authority" over that of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday as she continued to deny same-sex couple marriage licenses. A federal judge has ordered her to appear in court on Thursday.
Rowan County clerk Kim Davis' office denied several couples licenses Tuesday morning — a day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against her, upholding a federal judge's order to start doling out the licenses."NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, September 1, 2015.

She spoke about Jehovah's Witness abuse, and her home was vandalized
"Early this morning, Debbie McDaniel stepped out into her backyard to find her patio, windows, doors and furniture tagged with ominous warnings written in black marker.
McDaniel was just hours away from being the face of a Reveal investigation showing how Jehovah's Witnesses hide sexual abuse from law enforcement agencies and banish those who speak up about it."www.revealnews.org, July 30, 2015.

Gay Staten Island man says cops beat him outside of home, shouting homophobic slurs
" A gay Staten Island caterer says cops who were captured on video taking him down in his front yard, beat him while shouting homophobic slurs, the Daily News has learned.
Louis Falcone, 31, wasn't charged as a result of the June 19 takedown, and now plans to sue in federal court for civil rights violations, lawyer Eric Subin said."NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, July 31, 2015.

6-Year-Old Invited Sexual Abuse, Says Judge
"(TFC) Buenos Aires, Argentina — Judges Horacio Piombo and Ramón Sal Llargués of the Chamber of Criminal Cassation of Buenos Aires stunned the world when they reduced the sentence of a child molester because the child 'displayed a homosexual orientation and was accustomed to being sexually abused.'"theantimedia.org, June 04, 2015.

Boy Scouts of America president ponders lifting hiring ban for gay adults
"The president of the Boy Scouts of America said Thursday the organization should consider lifting its ban on openly gay adult leaders—before the courts make them do it.
'We must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be,' Robert Gates said at the Scouts' National Annual Meeting. 'The status quo in our movement's membership standards cannot be sustained'."Daily News, May 21, 2015.

Anti–gay Michigan pastor resigns after being caught chatting on Grindr
"A Michigan pastor who once rallied against same–sex marriage was caught soliciting sex on a gay hook–up app.
Matthew Makela, an associate pastor at St. John's Lutheran Church and School in Midland, resigned after he was busted chatting on Grindr—where he told other men he was a 'bicurious guy' who 'loved making out naked'."Daily News, May 20, 2015.

Michigan pastor caught on Grindr told gay teen he was going to hell: report
"The anti–gay Michigan pastor at the center of a Grindr controversy told a young parishioner he would go to hell for being gay.
The discouraging hypocritical words, spoken by Matthew Makela before Queerty discovered his secret gay hook–up profile, nearly drove 17–year–old Tyler Kish to suicide, his mother revealed to WNEM-TV."Daily News, May 22, 2015.

Wyoming lawmaker ejected from meeting after 'pedophilia' remarks on LGBT non–discrimination bill
" Panel discussion into protecting gay and transgender adults would require a little decorum, House Labor, Health and Social Services Chairwoman Rep. Elaine Harvey prefaced.
But after two hours, Rep. Harlan Edmonds, R–Cheyenne, was ejected for comments that included if sexual orientation included pedophilia.
He then proposed the bill's effective date be changed from July 1 to 'when hell freezes over'."Daily News, February 22, 2015.

Antigay Laws Already Having a Negative Effect on Health
"The prevalence of arrests and convictions for same–sex behavior varied by region. Sub–Saharan Africa had the highest prevalence, at 24%, followed by Central Asia and Europe, at 18%, the Caribbean, at 15%, and the Middle East and North Africa, at 13%.
Importantly, arrest or conviction for same–sex behavior significantly impaired access to a variety of HIV prevention interventions for men, Dr. Santos noted. Specifically, rates of access to testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infection, condoms, HIV testing, and mental health services were about 20% lower for men who had been arrested or convicted than for those who had not. And rates of access to medical care services were about 30% lower with an arrest or conviction. For HIV–infected men with an arrest or conviction, access to HIV treatment was about half that of other HIV–positive men.
"Enforcement of punitive laws for sex between men has a strong negative impact on access to HIV prevention and care services," Dr. Santos concluded. "Criminalization of same–sex behavior needs to be overturned to effectively address HIV and respond to the public health needs of this population."Medscape Medical News, July 30, 2014.

Internalized Homophobia
"David Thorpe knew he was gay by the time he was a teenager. In his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, though, he felt the need to hide.
Locals regularly preached about the dangers of homosexuality — some cited religion, others traditional values. The "why" became less important over time. Thorpe stopped trying to understand it; instead, he just felt mute."Mashable, June 25, 2014.

N. Carolina Lawmaker Compares Homosexuality to Pedophilia While Discussing LGBT Rights
"Rep. Paul Stam passed out copies of "What Is Sexual Orientation?" a two–page paper from the American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders," issued in 2000 that classifies bestiality, fetishism and sadism as sexual orientations....The APA has since redefined pedophilia and other categories as "disorders" not orientations, not that Stam mentioned that. In 2010 he used the same outdated pamphlet to argue against including sexual orientation in school bullying."The Wire, June 25, 2014.

Presbyterian Assembly: Gay Marriage is Christian
"DETROIT (AP) — The top legislative body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted by large margins to recognize same–sex marriage as Christian in the church constitution, adding language that marriage can be the union of 'two people,' not just 'a man and a woman'."Associated Press, June 20, 2014.

Medicare Coverage ban on sex-change surgery lifted
"Transgender people receiving Medicare may no longer be automatically denied coverage for sex reassignment surgeries, a U.S. Department of Health and Services review board ruled Friday in a groundbreaking decision that recognizes the procedures as a medically necessary and effective treatment for individuals who do not identify with their biological sex."Associated Press, May 30, 2014.

Schools work to help transgender students fit in
"California this year became the first state with a law spelling out the transgender student rights in public schools, including the ability to use restrooms and to play on sports teams that match their expressed genders."Associated Press, May 19, 2014.

N.Y. Lawmakers Consider Ban on Gay 'Conversion Therapy' for Minors
"New York lawmakers on Thursday heard testimony on a bill that would ban licensed therapists from counseling gay and lesbian minors to change their sexual orientation, amid a growing wave of backlash against the practice."Reuters Health Information, May 15, 2014.

SC town rallies 'round fired gay police chief
A one–square–mile South Carolina town with four traffic lights is challenging the mayor's power to strip its lesbian police chief of her badge in what supporters are calling a case of workplace discrimination.
Reuters, April 26, 2014

Lawyers Fight Placement of Transgender Juvenile in Adult Male Correctional Facility
Attorney Aaron Romano, one of the youth's lawyers, said the legal team would oppose any move to place the youth at Manson, saying her life would be in danger. And Romano said any move to put the youth in an isolation or seclusion unit at York would also be opposed — as a violation of the her constitutional rights.The Courant, April 10, 2014

Tabloid in Uganda names 200 'Top Homos'
A day after passing one of the world's most restrictive laws, Uganda paper publishes a list of people it says are gay. Under 'Exposed' headline, the paper also warns on 'using mouth for sex.'Daily News, February 25, 2014

New law in Nigeria bans gay meetings
The Associated Press on Monday Jan. 13, 2014, obtained a copy of the previously unannounced Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act that was signed by President Jonathan and dated Jan. 7 that bans same–sex marriage and criminalizes homosexual associations, societies and meetings, with penalties of up to 14 years in jail.Houston Chronicle, January 13, 2014

Cameroon man jailed for being gay dies from hernia
Roger Jean-Claude Mbede was jailed for expressing love to another man via text message. African nation has strictest anti–gay laws, 28 people have been charged under statute against homosexual acts.Daily News, January 13, 2014

Healthy People 2010 Companion Document for LGBT HealthThe Healthy People 2010 Companion Document for LGBT Health is a comprehensive look at multicultural LGBT community, written by and for health care consumers, providers, researchers, educators, schools, clinics, advocates, and health professionals in all settings.

Hatred in the HallwaysReport from Human Rights Watch on violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students in U.S. schools. Released May, 2001. Includes info on coping with harassment and violence, educator inaction, role of school counselors, and legal standards.